The Gates Scholarship

Results

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is able to continue its generous support of education in America by launching its third major scholarship program. The new scholarship is committed to serving 300 low-income students of color per year over 10 years. The goal of the program is to help achieve a 100% graduation rate among its scholars, and help them move on to make positive impacts in their chosen fields and society at large.

Problem

With the successful sunsetting of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program in 2016, the Gates Foundation wanted to continue its commitment to offering educational opportunities to low-income students of color through a new scholarship, starting in 2018. The new scholarship needed a brand identity and visual system of its own, yet it also needed to nod to the universally respected heritage of its parent foundation. In addition, the identity needed to reflect the scholarship’s focus on leadership development in addition to academic achievement.

Solution

Straightline created a visual identity system with the flexibility to be activated on the web, on mobile devices and in printed materials. The positioning and visual identity system were tailored specifically to the digital touchpoints (mobile apps, social media) used by the scholarship’s recipients. The result was an empowering symbol of optimism and support, which shows confidence in the scholars’ ability and potential.